News, events and more in Bay Head, from Star News Group.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, located on the corner of Bridge and West Lake Avenues in Bay Head, is hosting a Christmas in July Summer Craft Show on Saturday, July 23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Crafters of all types will display their items for sale, and local artists will exhibit their work. There will also be a silent auction, boutique, bake sale, and children’s activities, and St. Paul’s food will be served. Santa Claus himself may even make an appearance.

All funds raised will support St. Paul’s “Night In Bethlehem” event in December. For more information on this event and other happenings at St. Paul’s, visit http://www.stpaulsbayhead.org.

Bay Head's Mayors Wellness Campaign "GO Bay Head!", in conjunction with the lifeguards of the Bay Head Improvement Association, will be providing a series of instructional lectures on water safety throughout the summer, beginning this Saturday.

The Mayors Wellness Campaign, titled “GO Bay Head!”, will be holding a series of instructional lecture classes on water safety to local residents of all ages, at 10 a.m. on the Bridge Avenue Beach, on the following Saturday mornings: June 25, July 9, and August 6. Lifeguards from the Bay Head Improvement Association will be on hand to conduct the lectures, which feature such important information as recognizing rip tides or how to help oneself or someone else who may be in trouble in the water. For more information, please call 732-835-8649.

Students from the Bay Head School will be able to enjoy a unique opportunity this coming Monday, as they will take a tour of the town’s borough hall on Bridge Avenue from 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., interact with Mayor William Curtis and all members of the borough council, and have the opportunity to hold a mock council meeting that night at 6:30 p.m., just prior to the actual council meeting at 7 p.m. For further details, please read a future copy of The Ocean Star.

The borough of Bay Head will hold a Memorial Day service this Saturday morning, May 28, at 9 a.m. outside borough hall at 81 Bridge Avenue. All are welcome to attend – for more information, please call borough hall at 732-892-0636.

On behalf of the Bay Head School Foundation, foundation vice president Wally Niebling [front, center] and secretary Sally McGoey [front, right] recently presented a check for $11,000 to Bay Head School Principal Walter Therien [front left], to fulfill teacher grant requests. Some of the teachers who received grant funding — including Lauren White [back, from left], Melissa Kiss, Christina Lemanowicz, David Lewis and Carolyn Meyer — were in attendance at the check presentation. For the full details, check out this week’s edition of The Ocean Star.

Life’s Miracles photography, 41 Mount Street, is holding a grand opening this weekend. An artist reception is Friday evening 7:30 p.m. – 9 p.m. and an open house, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be a drawing during the opening for a gift certificate for a beach portrait, value of $500. There will also be specials and 10% of all the opening sales will be donated to Michael’s Feat [michaelsfeat.org] to help families with seriously ill newborns.

The opening also launches the first annual Cute Kids Fund Raising Portrait Contest. “The goal of the contest is to raise awareness and funds for charities while photographing really cute kids,” according to Ms. Roche. “The best pictures will be featured in our calendar. I have wanted to do for years and my new shop is Bay Head is the perfect place to start. We photograph kids on the beach, in the studio or at the park. Hopefully, with next year’s, we can help several local charities.”

Susan Roche, owner of Life’s Miracles, “Helping others has been an important aspect of my business. The calendar helps in many ways and the community can become involved by voting for their favorite pictures and encouraging votes donations. This helps raise awareness and funds. Michael’s Feat will really benefit. This is really such a fun project for everyone!”

“Susan has been involved with Michael’s Feat since the first big event over ten years ago, when we were just starting and she was there to help us. She is so talented, our resource room in Monmouth Medical Center is so beautiful. Susan donated several portraits of babies, taken in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, for the walls,” said Dana Puharic, Michael’s Feat founder. “These are the first portraits of these tiny babies and they are breathtaking.”

Life’s Miracles studio, gallery and shop began as a small portrait photography studio in Marlboro in 1984. Prior to that, Ms. Roche was a photojournalist, her work published in national magazines and newspapers. She has won numerous awards including blue ribbons from the Professional Photographers of America and has exhibited in many locations including Manhattan and New Jersey.

School district elections will be held on a Wednesday for the first time this year, in Bay Head and around the state. This coming Wednesday, April 27, voters will cast their ballots on the proposed 2011-2012 school budget, in addition to selecting who will occupy the open seat on the town’s board of education.

According to updated figures from school officials, the proposed 2011-2012 Bay Head school budget totals $3,410,367, which is approximately $86,697 more than the 2010-2011 budget, which totaled $3,323,670. The current school tax levy is $2,726,220, and the proposed 2011-2012 school tax levy is $2,780,744, an increase of $54,524.

The proposed 2011-2012 budget would result in a school tax rate of approximately 18.8 cents per $100 of assessed home valuation, according to the school board, a slight increase over the rate of 18.3 cents per $100 of assessed home valuation for the current year’s budget.

If voters approve the proposed 2011-2012 school budget next week, a Bay Head resident with a home worth $1.5 million, the average assessed value of a home in the borough, would pay about $2,815 in school taxes for the upcoming school year, up $70 from the current school budget.

The school district will apply $130,285 from its surplus account to the 2011-2012 budget, leaving $135,466 in the surplus account. During the current school year, $150,000 was drawn from the surplus account to be applied to the school budget. Also, the district was recently awarded $29,537 in state aid for the 2011-2012 school year, up from no state aid for the current school year.

If any town’s school budget is defeated at the polls, state policy dictates that the budget be reviewed by that town’s council, which then has the power to cut the budget, leave it as is, or increase it — an option that is rarely exercised. At that point, the school district can either accept the council’s proposed changes or appeal them to the New Jersey Department of Education [NJDOE].

Also on the ballot in next week’s school elections will be a question asking voters who they would like to see take an open, three-year seat on the Bay Head Board of Education. Barring a successful write-in campaign, Bay Head resident and school board incumbent Benjamin Hinds will win re-election to the school board, as he was the only candidate to file by the March 8 deadline to appear on the ballot.

There are five total seats on the Bay Head Board of Education. The seat currently held by Mr. Hinds is the only one up for election this year. On Wednesday, voters can head to the polls at the Bay Head Municipal Building, located at 81 Bridge Ave., from 3 to 9 p.m., to cast their ballots. Check a future edition of The Ocean Star for Bay Head school district election results and coverage.